Law on Immunities and Privileges of Members of Parliament //

Law on Immunities and Privileges of Members of Parliament

Pakistan's Majlis Shoora (Parliament) has approved the Immunities and Privileges Bill for Members of Parliament under Article 66 of the Constitution. From the name of this bill, it seems as if the salaries or other benefits of the members of parliament are being increased. However, the contents of the bill are completely opposite to the name of the bill. In fact, the purpose of this bill is to facilitate the Members of Parliament in exceptional circumstances so that the Members of Parliament can fulfill their constitutional responsibility and conduct their parliamentary affairs without any hindrance. The parliamentary history of Pakistan has witnessed that often On occasions, the government has been entangling the leading leaders of the opposition political party in criminal and civil, terrorism, drug, and other cases, the purpose of these cases is to put pressure on the opposition political force for its nefarious purposes or to involve in the proceedings of the parliament. It has to be prevented. In the recent past, it has been seen on many occasions how Shahbaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Rana Sanaullah, Ali Wazir, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Mian Javed Latif, Khawaja Asif, and many other members of parliament were under the rebuke of the Imran Khan government. The limit is that Ali Wazir, a member of the National Assembly arrested by the Imran Khan government, was neither released nor allowed to attend several assembly meetings despite being granted bail in the cases for several months in the Shehbaz Sharif government. Sometimes, the Speaker National Assembly and the Chairman Senate did not issue the production orders for these detained members of Parliament despite the repeated demands and protests of the opposition parties. Remember that in the past, "Members of the National Assembly are exempted from preventive detention and appearance" Ordinance 1963 was issued. But unfortunately, due to the constraints of the political situation of Pakistan, this ordinance lost its time and became inactive. In the month of January of this year, the senior parliamentary senator, Raza Rabbani presented the bill in the Senate, which was approved. After that, in the month of March, the National Assembly. This bill was also approved.

Application of Law:

This bill will apply to the members of the National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan.

Registration of case against Member of Parliament:

After an FIR is registered or a reference is filed against a member, the Chairman or the Speaker shall be informed within twenty-four hours of the registration or filing and a copy of the FIR or reference shall be furnished to the Speaker or the Chairman within twenty-four hours. will be done

Notification of arrest/detention:

When a member is arrested or required to be arrested on a criminal charge or under any criminal offense or sentenced to imprisonment by a court or detained under an executive order, a judge, magistrate or executive authority, chairman or The speaker will immediately inform the truth about the reasons for the arrest, detention or imprisonment. When a Member of Parliament is summoned by any commission, tribunal, authority, institution, agency, or other or required to appear before any inquiry or inquiry, the authority concerned shall inform the Chairman or the Speaker with brief facts/reasons. will

Release Notice:

When a Member of Parliament is released on bail after his arrest or detention or is otherwise acquitted of a criminal charge, the fact shall be communicated to the Chairman or Speaker by the relevant authority.

Presenting the detained Member in Parliament:

The chairman of a committee, a speaker, or the chairman of the Senate of Pakistan shall summon a detained member of parliament to attend a meeting of the senate, national assembly, or any committee of which the detained person is a member. Production signed by the secretary. On order or through any other officer authorized by the Chairman, the Speaker shall be addressed to the Federal Government or the Provincial Government where the Member of Parliament is detained. and the Sergeant-at-Arms shall, after the conclusion of the meeting or meetings, return the Member of Parliament to the custody of the Federal Government or the Provincial Government, or other authority.

Immunity from Arrest:

No Member shall be detained for a week before the commencement of a session in which that Member of Parliament is required to be present such as a vote for the election of the Prime Minister, a vote of confidence or a vote of no confidence, money bills (annual budget ) Attendance at meetings.

Arrest within Parliament Precincts:

No member of Parliament shall be arrested within the precincts of Parliament without the permission of the Speaker or the Chairman.

Application of legal action:

No legal proceeding issued by any court, tribunal, or other authority shall apply to any Member of Parliament within the limits of Parliament.

Defects in Law:

A very important flaw came to light during the study of this law. Apparently, this law applies to the Member of Parliament i.e. Member of the National Assembly or Member of the Senate of Pakistan. But Section No. 8 and Clause A of the Act state that a member of Parliament shall be immune from arrest until one week before the meeting called on the occasion of  Constitutionally, a member of the National Assembly or a member of the Senate of Pakistan does not interfere in the election of the Chief Minister of a province. It seems that a mistake has been made somewhere during the drafting of this bill. In the mind of the drafters of the bill, either the application of this law was intended to be applied to the members of the parliament and the members of the provincial assembly, or else the phrase "election of the chief minister" has been mistakenly written in the bill.